then WHAM!!! BLAM!!!! in your face taste. I like big beers but this took me by surprise. I had just finished a Libertine - quite delicate and quite frankly the assault of hops, bitter roast, dark choc was all a bit of an exercise of More is Less.

Pours ruby-tinted black, with a large, light tan head.Nose shows lots of fruity hops, with passion-fruit and peach very noticeable, along with some soft resinous pine. Later on some cocoa and roasted malt become apparent. Very nice.Very aggressive flavours, lots of pine, roasted malt, coffee and alcohol. Ends with a brutal hoppy and roasty bitterness.Carbonation seems a little high to me. (394 characters)

Thanks to Mr Kennedy for sourcing. Drunk from a De Dolle stemmed tulip.

Deep bronze when poured, chocolate brown in the glass. Finger of tight beige head. Respectable raised ring of lace and film remain.

Pine-lime splice (do they still make these?), licquorice and chocolate milk. Roasted malt is dialled in nicely so as not to kneecap the hops. Marred slightly by some plasticy character.

Absolutely nothing is lost in the taste. Also detect stewed fruits, spearmint and mild pine oil.

Smooth on the front palate, but slightly sizzly carbonation builds on the mid. Nice mellow bitterness.

Probably the most instantly likeable of the style I've tried so far, largely because the roast malt is restrained, allowing the very Murray's-esque fruity, confectionery hop character to show through, which I for one really dig. (824 characters)

Good mix of hop and malt aromas. Up front is some floral hops. Swirl it around and give it a sniff and some nice chocolate and coffee aromas are revealed. Some light smoke seems to hide in the background as well.

That's one big complex beer. Full on right from the start. Huge robust malt character gives the palate a whack. Big roast and almost acrid dryness. By this time the hops weigh in with a good dose of their own bitterness. Finishes with that battle for supremacy between malt and hops. Which will be the first to conquer your taste buds.

That kind of sums up this beer. A huge punishing exercise. Well, maybe not that tough. It does seem to have a lot of the rough edges that are admired about this style without the softer more enjoyable aspects. That may be exactly what they were going for, and it has been done well. But there are other examples that I prefer to this one. (991 characters)

A-- Poured black with a bit of red on the sides of the glass. A mostly mocha colored film, no real head to speak of. Was told that they were almost out of this and were surprised they had any today.

S-- Chocolate was predominant but got a bit of the citrus and hop smell. What was there was lemon with tropical fruits.

T-- Excellent. Plain and simple. Was hop forward with citrus (lemon and grapefruit) with a bit of pineapple. Followed by a nice chocolate finish.

M-- Excellent carbonation. Very well balanced between the malts and the hops. Not over the top like some US IPA's can be. Very nice beer.

D-- Was surprised it was still available. Worth it in every way. Better than the Southern Tier only due to freshness but I liked the Tier more due to the malts being more forward and the hops being softer. Third Australian beer that has wowed me in a big way. Bummer it was a seasonal. Murrays puts out some excellent stuff and worth looking for or visiting the brewery if you get a chance. (1,025 characters)

tasted espresso coffee, pepper on the tip of the tongue, and dark chocolate on the back. High ABV (for me) sets foot into unpleasant bitter territory, resulting in a beer that must be sipped.

Mouthfeel - while it's in your mouth it's not unpleasant, but due to the high ABV, once you've swallowed, be prepared for your mouth to feel the aftereffects of cheap bourbon.

Overall, this beer is as dark and foreboding as it appears - not for the fainthearted. Impressive looks, but I wrangled with the taste and mouthfeel all the way to the last gritty drop. (690 characters)

Ooh, such excitement surrounded this, I'd had a month of FebFast and hype leading up to the pivotal moment, drinking it the first day of tapping at the Local Taphouse. I was of course setting myself up for a fall with the expectations, but tried to stay objective.

Pours a dark colour, inky with a burgundy red tinge around the edge. Head is dark mocha cream-coloured, densely packed together and sinks to a thin film. The film sticks around well though. Lace is pretty impressive, gorgeous stickiness around the glass. A great-looking dark beer.

Nose is very sweet at first with huge tangy hops on it. An intense sherbet character with notes of pineapple, lemon and honey. A slight chocolatey undertone is revealed, just in an underlying richness, but it's all overlain with a really fresh, floral hoppiness. Overall sweet but not overly so, really unique and interesting aroma. I like it a lot.

Taste is more of the same but lessened. Lots of that tangy hop with more lemon sherbet notes, pineapple and a dollop of egg custard (flavour, I mean). Black roastiness comes through towards the back, very subtle with some dark chocolate notes, and a very slight charred meat sourness. Kind of falls slightly short on the finish as far as roastiness but is helped by a lingering hoppiness which is good, but could be a bit more bitter to cleanse.

Mouthfeel has a fair amount of body in spite of being a bit thin. I guess I'd call it slick, goes down very well but not without making its presence felt.

This is a really interesting brew, a nice balance between the pungent hop freshness and the deeper notes of the dark malt. Hugely drinkable, everything is in moderation but enough to give you a taste ride. I approve heartily of the attempt at brewing something different. I don't blame Shawn, I applaud him. (1,811 characters)

Murray's "India Dark Ale", a "full flavoured IPA brewed using dark malts", and named after (blamed on?) their head brewer. Tried on tap at The Local Taphouse in Darlinghurst.

Not really black, a deep dark garnet ruby colour with a thick and frothy head of eggshell off-white. Lacing is excellent. Body looks fine, but not very heavy. Looks great, in fact.

Big hoppy nose, unfortunately with a hint of those butterscotchy hops I can never quite place. Otherwise full of sweet and heavy fruit fragrance. Quite potent and very off-kilter for the appearance.

Taste is unique and odd. Big sweet hop presence at the front as though the flavours on the nose are the vanguard of the beer's forces. This is replaced as it continues with a surprisingly clean roasted grain character, which in some odd converse way, cleans up the heavy hop notes. Mouthfeel is very smooth which is really quite pleasant, and adds another layer of surprise to this already surprising and challenging brew.

A truly unique brew, although a style that seems to be on the ascent. Drinkable and unusual. (1,074 characters)

O/D - Fairly tasty and definitely different for a black IPA. Not something I'd seek out or session and something about it makes the drinkability lack. Worth a try though since it seems to be quite hard to find. For the style, I wouldn't rank it too highly. (598 characters)

Like the name and it pours a mahogany hue with cherry highlights and leaves a two finger frothy head and heaps of nice clingy lacing,the smell is piney hops,candy and a touch of mocha but not much just mostly piney hops,the mouthfeel is light-medium bodied and has tastes of piney hops,dark bittersweet chocolate,piney hops,fruit salad,caramel and finished with a piney hop,citrus bitterness and overall a very drinkable brew that with a few tweaks im sure could be alot better but definately worth a taste. (507 characters)

A relative non-event. Excess fizz distracted me from the get-go. Roast is mid weight and of course does get dominated by the hops but I guess that’s the intent of the style to some degree. Gets a touch resiny and sweet on the finish, again a function of the hops

A - Poured with 3cm of beige head atop a very dark brown beer.S - Floral and light citrus hops along with a coffee and slight chocolate note.T - the hops are a lot more noticeable in the taste, tropical fruitiness and floral aromas also with some coffe and chocolate touches.M - Medium bodied and medium carbonation with a fairly noticeable bitterness.D - Not really a session beer but a very nice beer which I'm hoping they'll do again. Murrays continue to impress with the monthly special releases. (504 characters)

Suprisingly clear, brown colour when held up to light with a creamy light tan head. Fair head retention and lacing.

Dank hoppy aroma redolent with pine and grapefruit. Very little malt. Not really any roast.

Bright and hoppy with just a slightly tart, almost coffee like edge to the malt. Distinct tropical NZ hop character with some passionfruit coming through though the hop character is much more oily than fresh.

Medium-light body with moderate carbonation Good.

A solid ABA with lots of hop character and the black malt notes kept to a minimum. (553 characters)